Chicago software company plants flag in Seattle area as new leadership team seeks AI talent – GeekWire
Enterprise software company LogicGate is establishing a Bellevue, Wash., office and rapidly expanding its Seattle-area executive team, betting on the region’s deep talent pool as it begins a new chapter under newly appointed CEO Diego Panama.
A Chicago-based risk management and compliance software company recently signed a lease in Bellevue with space for up to 25 employees and expects to have about 20 people working there by the end of the year.
It recently hired two Seattle-area executives to its leadership team: veteran advertising executive Michael Schultz as chief marketing officer and David Rostov as chief financial officer, whose appointments were announced today.
“The tech talent market here is second to none,” said Panama, a former LiveRamp and Microsoft sales leader who took over the company in April. “As we look to build a center with an office culture, Bellevue is an outstanding option.”
The expansion comes as Panama succeeds co-founder Matt Kunkel in a planned leadership transition the company hopes will position LogicGate for its next phase of growth.
“We have our eyes open – this is hard to fix – and we are proud / happy with the way we are doing,” Panama said. One of his main goals as CEO is to transform LogicGate from a cloud-based software-as-a-service business into an AI-centric company where agents and people work together seamlessly.
Founded in 2015 and now employing nearly 200 worldwide, LogicGate develops governance, risk and compliance software that businesses use to manage regulatory risk, cyber security and operations.
Rostov is a longtime Seattle financial executive who previously served as CFO at Avalara and Identity Digital before founding Aurion Biotech. Based in Seattle, he will oversee LogicGate’s financial and legal organizations while helping to grow the company’s Pacific Northwest operations.
“We have a leadership team that can match the ambition of what we are creating at LogicGate,” Panama said in a statement.
Rostov said he was drawn to the market opportunity and the company’s strategy around AI.
“Enterprise GRC is at a turning point, and companies need a reliable AI-focused platform that meets their risk and compliance needs,” he said in a statement.
The Bellevue office reflects the company’s belief that the Seattle region’s focus on business software, cloud computing and AI talent can help propel its growth phase as it expands its leadership team and its AI capabilities.
LogicGate’s investment also adds another enterprise software company to the growing list of firms choosing the Seattle area as a hub for senior leadership, as well as engineering and product talent. GeekWire’s engineering center list now includes more than 100 companies with outposts in the region.
